The Den
by three times over
Summary: Some guy goes into a cave to do a thing. Possibly criticises humanity's impact on the environment.


Hahaha I don't even know what this is. I think I was planning on sending it in somewhere? I dunno.  
I don't mind the battle scene so much on its own but the whole fic is shockingly disjointed. Le shrug. Uploading it because I can.  
This would appear to be set well before induction into the E4; it's about a cocky young trainer going in and thinking about himself foremost, I guess. I never bothered to establish that though so whoops.

All the lines about the lake are terrible. What was I thinking? How long did I think a kilometre _was_? I looked up a kilometre just now, read mention of the Niagara Falls and found out I never actually had any idea. And there's another line in there which really just makes no sense. Oh well, at least it all seemed to work out by the end.  
Written ~2007-2008, age 12-13.

/-/-

* * *

Water.

Was it not taken for granted?

They often said things were taken for granted until lost; they did not say if it was taken for granted when the object in question was extraordinarily beautiful.

And the lake in front of him was a prime example, stretching at least a kilometre both ways and catching the light everywhere he looked. The teenager let each shimmering ripple engulf his vision until a pack of screeching Zubat on the rooftops caught his attention; as his eyes adjusted to the sudden contrast, he consciously realised how dark the rest of the cave was.

Such was the majesty of the Dragon's Den, that its waters could shine without any light to reflect of their surface.

Lance quickly shook his head, letting a red bang swing out of his eyes; he hadn't spent half an hour walking here just to admire a large puddle. He dropped his bag onto the cave's floor and pulled a collapsible rod out, fixed it together, and flung the line into the lake.

Almost instantly, the rod shook violently and a shape burst out of the water. Through now-soaked clothing, the trainer clumsily grasped a Pokeball and inflated it, watching the creature slow down into a recognisable figure.

He smirked. This was the one he was looking for.

"Aerodactyl, go!" He flung the ball and a red stream of translucent light broke free from the shell, forming into a grey dinosaur-like creature. It roared fiercely and glared at the large blue eel in front of it. "Use Agility!"

Aerodactyl swooped into the air, its powerful hissing echoing throughout the cave; the Dratini closed its eyes and trembled slightly, collecting power before unleashing a Thunder Wave at its opponent. Aerodactyl simply barrel-rolled out of the way and screeched triumphantly.

"Good work, Aerodactyl!" Lance called out. The speedy Pokemon glanced at its trainer, a confident gleam in its eye. "Wing Attack it!"

Aerodactyl spread its wings and throttled forwards, but instead of running or attacking the Dratini crumpled into itself. In the resulting split-second of hesitation an azure blur shot out of the water, tightening mercilessly around its opponents neck. Lance grimaced, running through his options as Aerodactyl gagged and crashlanded in front of him.

Would Supersonic work? Although his best bet, by forcing Aerodactyl's throat to expand he would be placing too much stress on its throat muscles. He didn't want to know how that would turn out. On the other hand, the rest of Aerodactyl's attacks were implausible under the current circumstances. A loud hack sounded behind Lance; he glanced behind him to see his Pokemon spitting out blood, its eyes dulled and unfocused. The Dratini wasn't sparing any strength... he would need to think quickly.

In desperation, the trainer grabbed the topmost item in his bag. It was a Pokeball, an empty one... Lance had barely glanced at it before hurling it at his Pokemon's choker.

The Pokeball hit its target and sucked the Dratini in; Aerodactyl doubled over, panting heavily. It had barely recovered before the ball burst in two and the Dratini was back, but Lance already had a plan in mind.

"Supersonic, _now_!" As Aerodactyl released a mind-numbing screech, the Dratini screamed inaudibly; almost painful to watch, but soon it started to topple under the Supersonic's anaesthetic effects. The trainer glanced worriedly at his Pokemon, which was now more out of breath than before; despite this, it lifted its head and looked Lance in the eye, ready to obey the next order. "The confusion's gonna wear off soon, so we needa hit it hard while it can't strike back," he mused, more to himself than anything. "Use Wing Attack!"

This time, the attack was successful, smashing the small creature into a nearby wall. It dropped to the ground, somehow managing to stay upright; however, an attempt to headbutt its opponent from two metres away failed and the Dratini fell over weakly.

"Now use Bite!" Aerodactyl dramatically finished its attack by flying up and hurling the Dratini at the ground, where it screamed with a sudden influx of pain; the Pokemon had probably regained awareness, but it was pretty much half-dead and that was what Lance focused on. He chucked an Ultra Ball lightly at the Dratini's bruised body; it let itself be captured without any effort.

"Good work, Aerodactyl," Lance smirked, returning the dinosaur into its Pokeball. The Ultra Ball was stuffed into the boy's pocket and he casually strolled back the way he came.

And so the lake sparkled, now eerily silent.


End file.
